


Quiet (Oneshot)

by APHPuffinChild



Category: Hetalia: Axis Powers
Genre: Family, Fluff, Human Names Used, Oneshot, Other
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-11-15
Updated: 2016-11-15
Packaged: 2018-08-31 05:41:39
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,007
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/8566186
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/APHPuffinChild/pseuds/APHPuffinChild
Summary: After Peter's (and Mathias's) numerous complaints that they didn't do enough together as a family, they had decided to go to the beach. It was nice enough, he supposed, though Lukas would have much preferred simply sitting down with a book for a few hours straight, but since they were there, he might as well make the best of it.
Oneshot centred around Norway's and Iceland's relationship. Technically platonic but take it however you want





	

**Author's Note:**

> I haven't written a proper fic in like three years and this has not been proof read but I like this all the same. All constructive criticism and general opinions would be appreciated!

The weather was pleasantly warm, a slight breeze lightening the humid air. They had brought along a picnic and some usual beach things consisting of some towels, a sun umbrella, sun cream and so on and so on. It was nice enough, he supposed: after Peter's (and Mathias's) numerous complaints that they didn't do enough together as a family, they had decided to go to the beach - though Lukas would have much preferred simply sitting down with a book for a few hours straight, but since they were there, he might as well go swim, he decided - and so he did.

Emil - as always - outright refused to go anywhere near the water - it wasn't that he couldn't swim or even disliked it (Lukas knew for a fact that Emil actually loved water and swimming) but claimed that "being half naked in close proximities with people for fun is weird", deemed it as enough of an answer and went to go look for shells instead, which, honestly, was the same thing that happened every time so none of them were too surprised, if a bit disappointed.

After about half an hour, Lukas grew tired of the water and went back to where they had left their bags (none of them were worried that it would get stolen - the beach was as good as isolated), dried himself off and slipped on a simple hoodie to stop himself from getting cold - he might have a high tolerance for low temperatures but he wasn't completely immune. He looked towards Emil, who was still scouring the beach, walking back and forth along the dunes with a lax but not lazy pace - he seemed engrossed in his task and watching him put Lukas at ease.

He hummed quietly and decided to go to him, walked up behind him till he was a few metres alongside him. Had Emil noticed he was there? If he had he certainly hadn't acknowledged it in any way - maybe he just didn't care. Deciding that it didn't really matter anyway, he walked a little closer, still leaving a few feet between them out of quiet politeness. Lukas watched as his brother crouched once more, bringing his knees up to his chest to let his fingers whisper across the sand and pick up a seashell from the ground. He bit his lip slightly - a thing he always seemed to do when he was thinking - and scrutinised it carefully, turning it over and over in his hands before abruptly slipping it in to his pockets and moving on. 

Lukas continued watching as Emil reached out again for another shell, this time studying it more closely, thoughtfully putting a finger to his mouth and absentmindedly biting at his nail - another habit of his. A minute passed and Emil seemed to have slipped off in to his own little world again, his attentive eyes had gone glassy and blank, staring mindlessly in to the distance.

Deciding to snap his little brother out of it, Lukas reached down and lightly took the shell from Emil's hands, successfully snapping him out his stupor. He let out a small, surprised noise - albeit a little late - and fumbled to snatch the shell off him again, only to opt out and simply wait for Lukas to give it back instead.

Ignoring his brother's irritated look (it wasn't exactly anything new), Lukas twirled the shell in his hands, studying the colour and shape quietly - it was pretty enough, an average person might even get some what excited about it (he knew for a fact that Mathias would) (but he got excited over everything so he didn't count) - but to anyone who regularly collected them (especially someone who had lived for so long) it was really nothing overly special and Emil had surely collected thousands across the centuries.

"Haven't you got enough of these by now?" Lukas drawled, handing the shell back to his brother. Emil took it in his hands and looked down at the ground again, his eyebrows furrowing together, thinking of how to respond - though he had a habit of hiding his personal items when his family came to visit (he claimed it was embarrassing, or something of the sorts), he had always been a sentimental person, his home was filled with odd little items that seemed to hold no important value and yet he adamantly insisted on keeping them around, no matter how cluttered it made his house seem. Deciding that it simply wasn't worth the effort, Emil shrugged, pocketed the shell and moved on. 

Lukas frowned slightly at this - though he had never been a man of words (and knew his brother was the same) - he didn't appreciate the sullen silence that seemed to hang around his brother like a bitter cloud of teenage angst as of late.

'Things were so much easier when he was young...' Lukas mused, fondly remembering the snippets of the past - the way Emil would always take hold of Lukas' forefinger when he wanted him to hold his hand, how stormy nights would always end in lullabies sung over the sound of pouring rain, how-

"Lukas." Emil's quiet call interrupted his thoughts - not so silent after all, it would seem. Emil stood up again, holding out his hand to show him a particularly interesting find,  
"Look." He said, his voice has slipped in to a comfortable softness, his accent that he usually worked so hard to conceal was thick, if Emil decided to speak more his consonants and vowels would almost melt together, certain sounds and syllables would change or just go missing altogether and his usually monotonous voice became light and melodious. It told Lukas that this was a moment of closeness, a moment of calm, a moment of quiet - it was these moments that meant the world to him. Emil looked up at him expectantly and Lukas briefly shifted his attention to the present, taking the seashell from his brother's hands and examined it as spiralling shapes and opal tones seemed to meld in to one another as Lukas let himself remember a moment far in the past - almost foreign now, so different and yet, inexplicably the same.

It was a day quite similar to this one, he noted: warm but not scorching, some clouds drifting along the horizon as careless as the seagulls which drifted too, but along the sea instead like slightly less interesting ducks. Emil had been so small then, perhaps five -or six - years in body and, at that time, in mind for the most part. Lukas - or, if he remembers correctly - Sigurd* at the time was watching over Eíríkur (Emil).

He was always watching over him, Lukas remembers, he still does today - or at least he tries when Emil isn't holed up in his room.

It puts him at ease, watching Emil that is, calms him and fills him with something that Lukas can only describe as pride, and yet so much more - adoration, perhaps? He doesn't know - he's never been very good with words. Silence however...Yes, he was good at that - Emil too, although he remembers there was a lot less silence in those days, back when Emil was small - yes, that had been how it had been on that day too, hadn't it?

"Størebror!" Came the quiet call, accompanied by Eíríkur tugging at the hem of his shirt, and Sigurd lowered his eyes to meet his, a certain softness within them that anyone who had so much as met him knew would only ever be there for him - Eíríkur was his 'precious little brother' after all - he was special.

"Hm?" He asked, which translated to a simple 'what is it?'

"' Found treasure." He replied simply and Sigurd sat down and pulled Eíríkur onto his lap, back curled against his chest,

"Show me." He said more than asked (though not in a demanding way, it's just the way he said things) - and patiently looked at each and every one of Eíríkur's 'treasures' which turned out to be a small collection of shells. For some, this task might have been boring, repetitive or dreary but Sigurd always managed - his patience rarely wore thin with Eírí and he found a certain pleasure in these little things. He had always had a sort of purity about him - one that can only be found in children - a sort of emotional rawness that had stayed with Emil to this day - Lukas is glad it did, he wouldn't know what to do if it went away.

Eírí holds him up another two shells, turning slightly so hes sitting sideways and can face him better,

"This one's my favourite," He mumbled slightly, pointing to the first, "'N this one," He added, handing it to Sigurd, "'S for you."  
Sigurd smiles lightly, of course - Eírí wouldn't dream of giving him his favourite of the haul, but Sigurd does notice that the shell he received is rather pretty, and has almost no chips or cracks - his little brother took special time looking for this one, and this too gives him a strong happiness.

"Thank you lillebror," he said, stroking his brother's hair as a slight smile comes on to Eíríkur's face, "Ya pleased with it?"

"Já, størebror!" He hugs Sigurd and grabs on to his shirt and as Sigurd pulls him closer he can feel Eírí giggling into his shirt and then, ever so slightly, he is laughing too. It's a moment of happiness.

Lukas sighed at the memory - things really hadn't changed much at all, despite everything. He tossed the shell to Emil who just about caught it and slipped it in to his pockets with the rest, giving Lukas that same, anticipating look as before,

"'S pretty," He said simply, slightly amused as the boy visibly relaxed, "Ya pleased with it?" he asked,

"Good job, lillebror" he said quietly, gently ruffling Emil's hair.

"Takk...storebror.." he replied, in an almost daze-like state before fully processing what he'd said, eyes growing wide as his face reddened, 

"W-Wait I-" he began to protest but was quickly silenced as Lukas pulled him in to his arms, chuckling slightly. Emil begrudgingly hugged him back, hands clinging to the back of Lukas' hoodie, unsure of what else to do with his hands. They stood there in silence for a few minutes, comfortable in one another's arms, silent happiness burning within both of them at the rare affection that was being displayed.

"I love you, you know that right?" Lukas asked, his right hand lightly combing through Emil's hair,

"Yeah, I know," he paused, "' Love you too." he added, perhaps a little quieter but for once there was no denial or uncertainties and Lukas smiled again.

"D'you remember how it was back then?" Lukas asked and there was a short silence again before Emil responded,

"Yeah, I do." he said, his voice still soft and light,

"Good." said Lukas firmly and they fell in to quiet once more, Lukas near-silently humming the lullabies from long, long ago, only to be disturbed by Tino's distant shout, telling them that it was time to go. Both slightly displeased that they had been interrupted they stood there for a moment longer - Lukas was the first to move away, slightly caught off guard by the disappointment evident on his brother's face but did not let it show,

"Come on," he said lightly, "Let's go.". He watched as Emil frowned and hunched his shoulders in a rather childish manner - akin to the way he had back then but was once again surprised as Emil reached out his hand and handed Lukas a shell for the last time, his eyes planted firmly on the ground, refusing to meet his gaze,

"..This one's for you.." he mumbles, it was very pretty, but not quite the prettiest and Lukas chuckled again at his brother's child-like behaviour and took hold of Emil's hand before pulling him along to go to the others, a comfortable quiet settling between them once more, because to them the quiet moments were the most important of all.

**Author's Note:**

> *just to clarify I tend to like the idea of countries using numerous names across their lives, I wanted to use the names to make sure it was clear whether it was the 'past Norway's or the 'present Norway' doing a thing. 
> 
> Any comments/kudos/bookmarks would be very much appreciated! I hope this wasn't too confusing as I change tenses and names quite a bit (with good reason but I'm a little worried that it was excessive so I might go back and edit in the future!)


End file.
